Piece By Broken Piece
by Ceiphied Knight
Summary: Six Months of Rumbelle prompt fic! "Gold has to choose between Bae and Belle."


_**dustbowldancerliz**__** prompted**__: If you'd like angst, Gold has to choose between Bae and Belle._

**PIECE BY BROKEN PIECE**

Of course the bloody vortex would have had to open in the middle of the bloody woods next to the bloody cliff's edge.

When Bae tumbled out, still fourteen with a mop of brown hair and laughing eyes, Rumplestiltskin (still in the guise of Mr. Gold since magic had, so far, been unpredictable and his leg was still bothersome. Also, because Belle loved him in his suits) had planned to catch his boy in his arms with grace and ease. They would embrace and Belle would run over to them and wrap her arms around them both, and it would be altogether very lovely.

Instead, Bae tumbled out with such force that he knocked into his step-mother and sent them both tumbling over the edge of the cliff.

Without a logical thought in his head, Rumplestiltskin threw his cane to the side and dove for them both, his arms outstretched and fingers grasping for any hold he could get on his son and new wife.

Face down in the dirt and wet leaves, the former sorcerer took a moment to calculate that he did seem to be holding someone in each hand. He finally looked up and over the edge, and saw that Bae had grabbed his left hand, and Belle had grabbed his right.

He had them. They were safe.

Except…they weren't. Because he wasn't a large man, or a strong man, and now they were stuck. He simply didn't have the strength to pull them both to safety. And no one knew where they were. And everyone hated him, so it would be a cold day in Hell before he was reported missing, though the chances of someone missing Belle were much greater. His wife had become fast friends with the Savior, so perhaps if he could just hold on to them both for a few hours Emma would come looking for them….

In the middle of the woods. At the edge of a cliff. At dusk.

Rumplestiltskin let out a groan of frustration and began to tug and pull at the two people he loved most in the world.

"Rum, are you all right?!" Belle called up, and he could feel her slipping a bit. He held tighter.

"I'm fine, love, and I'm more worried about you at the moment!" he yelled down, though it took some effort.

"Papa?" he heard all the questions his boy must have in that single word, and Rumplestiltskin bit down on his lip so hard he tasted blood.

"It'll be all right, Bae!" he assured his son, "No problem, I'll have you both up in a moment!"

If his wife or son noticed the lie, neither of them let on.

He tried pulling again, with all of his might, but he still couldn't get them close enough to the edge where either of them could latch on and pull themselves to safety.

"Bae?" he heard Belle addressing his son, "My name is Belle, and I'm your step-mother. I'm so glad I got the chance to meet you. I know we only just met, but I love you and your papa very much. He's been looking for you for a very long time."

"Belle!" Rumplestiltskin yelled down to his wife, "What are you going on about?"

"Rum," she answered as gently as she could, "you can't pull us both up."

"Yes, I can!"

"No, you can't. So please let me go and save Bae."

The former Dark One felt the air leave his lungs. Belle couldn't possibly be asking him to choose Bae over her. To forfeit her life on purpose…

"No, papa!" Bae screamed, "Let _me _go! There's a creek below...I'm smaller so I may miss the rocks and be able to swim out!"

Rumplestiltskin felt hot tears begin to run down his cheeks. His brave, selfless boy. His brave, selfless wife. The two of them had always been just alike. So much stronger and braver than he. Belle could have easily been Bae's real mother. How he wished that were the case. How he had so looked forward to introducing them as such.

"You're not that much smaller than me!" he heard Belle arguing. "I could just as easily make it to the creek and swim to shore!"

Rumplestiltskin could almost hear Bae's eye roll. "I'm younger."

"Which is exactly why you need to be the one pulled to safety!"

"Enough!" Rumplestiltskin yelled down. "No one is letting anyone go!"

He was finally able to look over the edge enough to see his son and wife as they grasped onto his arms. They were looking at each other, thoughtfully.

"I like you," Bae said to Belle.

Belle beamed at him. "I like you, too."

And then, she turned her smile up at her husband. He watched as her face slowly turned sad, and she held his gaze as she said, "And you, Rumplestiltskin. I love you."

Then she let go.

* * *

Bae helped his father pull his step-mother's body from the creek.

There had been no happy reunion between them. Maybe, someday, there would be. But Bae knew in his heart that it wouldn't be for a very long time.

He had seen his father look broken before. More often than not, actually. But he had rarely seen him looking so…hollow. So devastated.

In recent memory, the last time Bae had seen that look on his father's face was when the knights had come to take him to the Ogre's War.

But, unlike then, Bae had no idea what to say to make it better. He knew how to be brave in front of the knights, and he knew how to stand up for his father. But he had absolutely no idea what to say in the face of such tragedy.

So he simply watched as his father clung to the broken body of the bright, beautiful woman that Bae had only had the honor of knowing for a few minutes.

"I'm so sorry, papa," Baelfire finally choked out.

His father's head snapped up so fast that Bae didn't even register the movement.

"Not your fault," he bit out, and his eyes were wild and unfocused. "Never your fault. All mine. Always mine."

And, in that moment, Bae wasn't sure if he would ever truly get his father back.

**THE END**

****A/N: Sorry for all the feels! The idea behind this was that I couldn't see Rum being able to decide between the two people he loves most in the whole world (possibly the only two people he's EVER loved) and then I realized that they're both incredibly brave people so they wouldn't even let him. They are both so strong that they have the ability to take things onto their own shoulders that Rum can't, and that is why he needs them both so much. So this was my answer to the prompter, hope it was okay!


End file.
